American Chop Suey

American Chop Suey, Goulash, Johnny Marzetti... whatever you call it; this is something my mom used to make all the time growing up. It's wicked fast & easy & good. She used Ragu. Now I would never use Ragu for anything but this. (nothing personal Ragu) But it is a MUST for this recipe. Otherwise, it just doesn't taste like Mum's! But I do add a little Italian Seasoning to it. This can be on the table in 15 minutes. Awesome for busy nights.

American Chop Suey (printable recipe)
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb ground beef
1 jar Ragu
a little Italian Seasoning

This is all you need:


Boil a big pot of water for macaroni and cook according to directions on the box.
Meanwhile, brown your ground beef... I didn't take a pic of this step... and I probably have tons of pics of ground beef browning, but I'm sure you know how to brown ground beef.

So anyway... brown and drain your ground beef.

Pour jar of Ragu and a little Italian seasoning into the meat and heat through.


Drain your cooked macaroni


Add meat sauce to macaroni and stir to coat.


That's it.


Add some garlic bread and a salad... dinner is served.


I'm sure there are way more fancy ways to make this. But this is how Mum made it and it's how I make it too!

Wicked fast, wicked easy, wicked cheap, YUM.

Skillet Breakfast Burritos

Sunday, I was going to make the English Muffin Bread I saw over at Amber's Delectable Delights and then make breakfast sandwiches with it. But ultimately decided I was way too lazy on Sunday to do it! (I will do that another time)
I LOVE McDonald's McSkillet Burritos. So I decided to make them at home.

You'll Need:
2 or 3 smallish boiled potatoes
2 or 3 slices of red onion
1/3 of bell pepper
6 eggs
a little milk
taco seasoning
a bit of oil or broth
1 lb breakfast sausage or chorizo
shredded cheese, I like colbyjack
4 large flour tortillas
your favorite taco sauce

Cut your cooked potatoes into cubes


Dice your onions & pepper






Now if I didn't have a picky family... all of this would be cooked in one skillet... however... everyone likes their burritos different and I usually play short order cook in the kitchen.

But since I do have a picky family....

Put your potatoes in a skillet with a bit of oil or broth and sprinkle with taco seasoning.


Cook until heated through.


In another pan... add your onions & peppers and a bit of oil or broth.


Cook until well caramelized.


While you're cooking the potatoes & onions & peppers... cook your sausage until no longer pink.


What's that? Your family eats whatever you put in front of them??
Put sausage, onions & peppers in a skillet and cook until sausage is no longer pink. Add potatoes & taco seasoning and cook until potatoes are heated through.

Ok... Meaty/Veggy part is ready... you need to scramble your eggs.


Add some milk


Whip 'em up.


Spray yet another skillet with cooking spray


Add your eggs


Cook on medium low... add some taco seasoning or taco sauce.


Mmmmm... taco seasoned eggs, ready to be rolled into burritos.


Assemble your Skillet Burritos.
Start with a flour tortilla


Lay down some cheese (I like them CHEESY)


Then your meat & veggies






Now some eggs (Gosh darnit!! typing this I could really go for one of these right now!)


Some taco sauce


More cheese!!!


Now roll it up!
Fold up the bottom over the filling, then fold in the sides.


Roll it over and enjoy!!

Chicken Taquitos

I needed a quick lunch on Saturday and remembered I had some Smoky Mexican Chicken in the fridge. We had been talking about chimichangas & taquitos over on BakeSpace and thought I'd try my hand at Chicken Taquitos.

You'll need:
Smoky Mexican Chicken
Corn Tortillas
Shredded Cheese (colby, pepperjack)
Oil for Frying
Toppings? Guacamole, Sour Cream, Salsa, Jalapenos

I start with a damp linen napkin.


Place 3 or 4 corn tortillas in the napkin.


Fold it over and microwave for 20 - 30 seconds


That should make them easier to work with.

Put about 1/4 C of Smoky Mexican Chicken on the tortilla.


Now roll it up.




You might need to secure them with a wooden toothpick.


Pour the cooking oil into a frying pan and heat to 350F.
Gently place the taquitos, seam side down into the oil. If you secured them with toothpicks, it's ok to leave them in place while they are frying.


After a few minutes, turn them over.


Cook a few minutes on the other side until golden and remove to napkin lined rack.

Ok... they're not very pretty. My corn tortillas were store bought (from the grocery store) and not so fresh, so they did break up a bit during rolling. Next time I'm picking up corn tortillas from Reyna Foods in the Strip. They make them fresh on site! It's the only Mexican market in the city.

Top with shredded cheese and your favorite toppings.


These didn't come out pretty... but they were REALLY good!!!

Rosemary Parmesan Biscuits

Sunday I also wanted some kinda bread to go with dinner. I was looking for a savory muffin recipe. I ended up combining a few things I found and came up with this. I 'thought' they would be muffins... but really they came out as biscuits! They'd also be great dumplings or topping some kind of meaty veggie casserole.

You'll need:
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp minced rosemary
4 TBLS extra virgin olive oil
3/4 C light mayo
3/4 C fat-free plain yogurt
1/2 C grated Parmesan, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.


Stir in the rosemary.


Add olive oil, yogurt, mayo and 1/4 C parmesan






Mix just until moistened


Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle evenly with remaining parmesan.


Bake at 350F for 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.


Enjoy!